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This is the terrifying moment a fisherman spotted a “part alien ” creature watching him on his boat – before finding out it has one of the most painful bites in the insect world.
Bobby Sprovieri was fishing in Enderby, British Columbia, Canada, when he realised he had a nightmarish companion.
He quickly started filming what he descried as a “part crab, part turtle, part June bug and part alien”.
It appears to have a hard shell and several legs – including two longer limbs at the front.
“When I first saw it, it really threw me off,” the 39-year-old said. “I had no clue what it was, my guess was some sort of June bug or water beetle.
“Never have I ever encountered anything like this.”
The angler estimated the creepy-looking creature was four inches long but it wasn’t until he got home and shared pictures online that he realised what he had encountered.
He said: “I got a lot of scary responses from people who swim and take part in lake activities, and a few people knew exactly what it was: a giant water bug, aka a toe biter.
“So, naturally, I searched it on the web. I then got a bit nervous about what was staring me down that night.”
The bite of the giant water bug “is considered one of the most painful that can be inflicted by any insect” according to a study in the Wilderness & Environmental Medicine journal.
It is described as “excruciatingly painful” and its effects can last up to five hours.
The horror bug injects its victims with a toxic saliva, capable of liquefying tissue which is where its name comes from.
Toe biters are a family of freshwater insects comprising some 170 different species around the world and they are usually found in freshwater ponds, marshes and slow-flowing streams.
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